The Calcutta Municipal Corporation (CMC) is considering cancelling the trade licences of nursing homes and private hospitals if they fail to send weekly reports of patients suffering from mosquito-borne diseases to the civic authorities.

Joint municipal commissioner Sahidul Islam and chief municipal health officer (CMOH) DebDwaipayan Chattopadhyay met at the civic headquarters on Thursday to discuss ways to involve the private healthcare sector in the fight against vector-borne diseases like malaria, dengue, chikungunya and Japanese encephalitis.

“The CMC cannot close down a nursing home if it does not comply with the directive, but an owner will find it difficult to run his business without a trade licence. Insurance companies may deny claims if their clients are treated at un-licensed places,” Islam said.

Left Front chairman Biman Bose called for a joint effort to fight the winged menace that has claimed 14 lives in the city and its fringes this season.

“Citizens and parties should join hands to destroy mosquito breeding grounds. Abandoned water tanks and other places where water stagnates should be regularly cleaned,” said Bose after a meeting of the ruling coalition on Thursday.

Earlier in the day, DYFI supporters carrying party banners hit the streets of the Taltala-Janbazar-Rafi Ahmed Kidwai Road area with a van carrying fogging machines.

Over a dozen cases of malaria have been reported from the area in the past two weeks.